Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a chronic condition characterized by abdominal pain, constipation and/or diarrhea. It is fairly common and responsible for 20-50% of visits to gastroenterologists. IBS does not result in damage to the gastrointestinal tract and is not associated with nor develops into more serious gastrointestinal conditions such as colon cancer or colitis, and it can often be controlled with drugs aimed at symptom relief, diet changes, and stress management techniques. However, more serious conditions must be ruled out before making a definitive diagnosis of IBS, and thus setting an appropriate course of treatment.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) refers to at least two distinct diseases that cause inflammation of the intestinal tract: Ulcerative Colitis affects the colon, while Crohn's Disease most often affects the last part of the small intestine, but can attack any part of the digestive tract. IBD is rare by comparison to IBS, and IBD patients may experience many of the same symptoms as IBS patients, complicating the diagnosis of IBD. Furthermore, patients with IBD are at greater risk of developing colon cancer. Currently, IBD can only be definitively diagnosed by colonoscopy, a rather invasive procedure; even this invasive procedure is incapable of diagnosing approximately 10% of patients undergoing colonoscopy (Burczynski, J. Mol. Diag. 8(1): 51 (2006)). IBD may be treated with anti-inflammatory drugs, immunosuppressive agents, and/or surgery to remove damaged tissues.
Thus, there is a need in the art for better and more specific diagnostic tests capable of distinguishing between IBD and IBS.